Emergency Plan: Your child care provider's emergency plan must include a shelter-in-place procedures. They should have practice drills throughout the year. They must make parents aware in advance of the drills. Check in to see when your program had their last drill.

ACCESS to Guns:

In Family Child Care Homes firearms, shotguns and rifles are permitted onsite. HOWEVER, they must be securely stored and inaccessible to children and written notice must be given to parents. (For more specifics see regulation 416 & 417 under safety CLICK HERE)

In Child Care Centers and School Age Programs firearms, shotguns and rifles are prohibited. (For more specifics see regulation 418 & 414 under safety CLICK HERE)

You should check in with your family member, friend, or neighbor who is caring for your child, to see if they have any guns onsite and if they are properly secured and stored, etc. Gun Safety for Children.

Make the safety of children a priority.

#2 Four Reasons Early Care and Education is Essential

Early Childhood Education is not just important, but Essential...

Moral: Early childhood is right for children. All children deserve a great place to be every day and great people to be with.

Workforce Productivity: Parents need to work to support their families and they need dependable, quality programs for their children while they work.

Brain Research: The early years of a child's life, from the prenatal period onward, are when the brain is developing faster than any other time.

Return on Investment: The Perry Preschool and Abecedarian longitudinal research shows that high-quality early childhood programs have financial benefits much greater than their costs.

This statewide organization works to get toxic chemicals out of daily life, by changing laws, shifting the market-place, and helping people make change in their homes, businesses, and child care settings. They also see child care and after school programs as key partners in their mission to free children of harmful chemicals.

Thank you for taking the time to fill out the 2018 NYS Child Care Parent Survey.

The information we gather will be used to help the NYS child care community serve families better.

Responses are confidential. All survey participants will be entered to win a $100 Visa/Amex gift card- limit one survey per family, please.

Children's Corner

Talking About the Weather

Make it a Learning Experience

We experience weather every day. It affects what we can do outside, what we wear, what we eat and drink. Weather is so much more interesting. It's a great opportunity to focus children on experiencing weather and coming to have a real understanding of the importance of weather in their lives while having fun.

Let's talk about the weather using positive terms. Even rainy days are beautiful, and we couldn't survive without them. Snow is not an inconvenience, but beautiful and so a different way to play outside.

"Learning about the seasons helps children understand the passage of time and teaches them about change. While some seasonal changes are more obvious (like changes in the weather), there are many important subtle differences related to each season, like changes in the type of food that is available. For example, in some parts of the world, winter means shorter days, cooler temperatures, and little or no plant growth. In contrast, spring is full of new life with flowers budding and gardens beginning to grow."

What is the climate where we live? What if we lived somewhere else. Hint: there are no snowmen or snow-women in the deserts of Arizona.

Weather is interesting because it is always changing. "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute." Weather can be observed and measured. As children come to fully understand what they mean, their vocabularies will grow as will their understanding of the world.

Congratulations to the following child care programs which are now endorsed as Asthma Friendly Child Care Programs:

Memorial Methodist Early Childhood Center

Montrose Child Care Center

Mount Kisco Child Care Center

Alarming Statistical Information of Asthma

Asthma is a serious and growing health problem. In the past 20 years, asthma has increased worldwide. According to the NYS Department of Health, asthma caused an average of 358 deaths per year from 1998 - 2000. One in ten preschool children is diagnosed with asthma and it is the
Number 1 reason for school absenteeism.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, every day in America:

30,000 people have an asthma attack

11 people die from asthma (3 children die from asthma every day)

Nearly half (44%) of all asthma hospitalizations are for children

The death rate for children under 19 years old has increased by 80% since 1980

Managing Asthma in a Child Care Setting

Children with asthma need proper support in child care settings to keep their asthma under control and to be fully active. Uncontrolled asthma can interfere with a child's attendance, participation, and progress in child care and in school.

Child care staff, health professionals, and parents need to work together to remove obstacles and promote children's health and development.

On March 31st spend time creating art with your kids using Crayola Crayons!

Other special days in March:

March 6th is dentist day

March 12th is plant a flower day

March 14th is learn about butterflies day

March 23rd is National Puppy Day

March 30th is National Doctor's Day

Did You Know...

We Threw a 50th Anniversary Party!

Council staff worked together to brighten up our office space, as we gear up to celebrate our 50th Anniversary ALL YEAR LONG! Make sure to check your emails to see how we will celebrate 50 years of investing in child care! And you're invited!

Westchester County added $1.6 million of new funding to the 2018 budget of which $1 million will be used to raise reimbursement rates for contracted providers.

Now the Council is working to increase child care funding in the NYS budget. We traveled to Albany on February 6th for Early Childhood Advocacy Day, speaking with Assemblymembers Amy Paulin and David Buchwald. We also met with staff in Assemblymembers Mayer, Abinanti and Senator Stewart-Cousins offices.

Our "Advocacy on the Go" campaign is back on the road. Through the end of March we're visiting 20 plus programs to encourage parents to call Governor Cuomo and their state representatives in support of increased child care funding.

Senator Carlucci recently told us that he never hears from parents about child care. Let's change that this year.

Things To Do

Join Us for a special STORYTIME

March 15th at 11am

The Field Library

4 Nelson Avenue, Peekskill, NY 10566

The Council has been visiting programs and libraries throughout Westchester to enjoy story time during our Reading Marathon. The Field Library in Peekskill was kind enough to allow the Council to hold a special story time, and we would love to see some familiar faces there! No registration required, just come and enjoy stories and entertainment provided by our staff!